KCC injects £380,000 to alleviate isolation among elderly

Kent County Council is giving a £380,000 boost to battle isolation and loneliness among elderly people. The cash will be used to develop volunteer befriending services across the county to visit vulnerable older people and bring them back into the community.

Befriending is already making a difference to people’s lives but this money, which is part of £18million government funding to improve adult social care, will extend it to even more people.

Sandra Richards, 70, began volunteering as a befriender in 2007 and has been visiting Nora, who has dementia, once a week since 2009.

She said: “She lives in a fairly rural area where, if you haven’t got a car, you are pretty well stranded.

“I decided to take her out in the car because it gets her out of the four walls and it stimulates her memory. “For example, she used to have a horse for many years so we visited a friend of mine with horses and she was delighted. It gave her a chance to talk about her own horse with the lady who owned them.

“I wanted to do it because it’s giving something back into the community. I used to be a community nurse for years and I know how there are these forgotten people no-one seems to think much about and I wanted to help in some way. This lady is fun and makes me laugh, so we both get something out of it.”

Loneliness can lead to depression and poor health and befriending is an effective way to combat the effects of social isolation.

More than 60 voluntary agencies have applied for year-long grants to pilot new models of befriending from next month. KCC will then use these schemes to develop a countywide befriending service in 2014.

Graham Gibbens, KCC cabinet member for adult social care and public health, said: “It is hard to overestimate how debilitating loneliness and isolation can be for people’s wellbeing. If elderly people are cut off from the community, they are more likely to be depressed and see their health suffer, resulting in hospital stays or having to move into a residential home.

“Befrienders make such a difference to the lives of elderly, isolated people, as it gives them someone to talk to, to help them do the things they enjoy and look out for their well-being. We are all responsible for looking after the most vulnerable in society and we need more people to volunteer their time to support someone in their community who needs them.”

To find out more about becoming a befriender, visit www.kent.gov.uk/volunteering.